DOG WALK­ING

Buy or bor­row one; either way, get your­self a dog. It’s guar­an­teed to get you out­doors in the fresh air every day, in all weathers. There’s some­thing in­fec­tious about a dog’s plea­sure at be­ing re­leased into the out­doors. But are hu­mans re­ally so dif­fer­ent? Af­ter all, time spent in the open air can change your day for the bet­ter.

If you can’t com­mit to own­ing your own dog, you might con­sider walk­ing a neigh­bour’s dog. There are lots of peo­ple out there who aren’t able to get out as of­ten as they would wish. Here are some or­gan­i­sa­tions who can put you in touch with dogs who need walk­ing.

• Be­come an RSPCA dog-walk­ing vol­un­teer. rspca.org. uk/whatwedo/lat­est/blogs/de­tails/-/ar­ti­cleName/ Blog_A_guide_­to_vol­un­tary_­dog_walk­ing • Cin­na­mon Trust helps el­derly and ter­mi­nally ill peo­ple take care of their pets. cin­na­mon.org.uk • Make it of­fi­cial through Bor­row My Doggy. bor­rowmy­doggy.com • READ MORE: In our March is­sue, nat­u­ral­ist Mike Dil­ger tells us how be­com­ing a dog owner made him fall in love with the coun­try­side all over again.